COVID Positive Comoros Players Played in Ghana Black Stars AFCON 2021 Upset, Embarrass Angry CAF

• A staggering claim has emerged nearly one year after AFCON 2021 in Cameroon
• A Comoros FA official stated some of its players in the tournament had COVID-19
• This was despite strict protocols in place and has cast the organisers in bad light

Several players from Comoros played in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, despite having tested positive for COVID-19.

This is a claim that was made by the Comoros football federation's president, Said Ali Athouman last month during his wedding, where amazingly, Confederation of African Football (CAF) representatives were in attendance.

According to Yahoo News, Athouman said to amused guests, in a video taken during the wedding:

"Against Ghana - I can say it now since time has passed - we had first-team players who tested positive and we managed to have them on the pitch playing."

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The encounter will be remembered for the tiny Indian Ocean island nation defeating the Black Stars in one of the all-time great AFCON upsets. This boosted the upstarts to surprisingly qualify for the knockouts, where they were knocked out by the hosts.

CAF's communications director, Lux September tersely refuted Athouman's claim, telling BBC Sport Africa:

"It's impossible to have cheated the Covid protocols."

Mandela's grandson infuriates Morocco

Many in South Africa's political echelons have made their feelings knowns regarding the Morocco-Western Sahara dispute.

This time, it was the turn of Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of South Africa's parliament, to take aim at the North Africans nation.

Nelson Mandela's grandson took the opportunity to criticize Morocco during the opening ceremony of the 2023 African Nations Championship on Friday in Algeria.

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Guinea replaced by AFCONhopefuls

Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Zambia and Benin-Nigeria want to replace Guinea as host of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, CAF president Patrice Motsepe confirmed on Saturday.

Guinea, chosen in 2014 to stage the premier African national team tournament, withdrew last year after little progress had been made in preparing for the biennial event.

Motsepe said CAF officials would conduct inspection tours of all the new candidates this month, with the host to be announced on February 10.